Suggestions on choosing an inverter?

[Calsun]

When I priced out the Tesla power wall its cost was the same as for a 16 kW generator. As I have natural gas at my house I went with the standby generator. The Tesla would provide power for at most 48 hours and I have outages that last longer than that. The generator can run virtually forever as in California (unlike Texas) our natural gas supply has never failed to be available.

I installed the generator outdoors and the only issue is the exhaust fumes and so I blocked two vents into the space under the house and I installed a CO monitor inside the living space. With a power bank there is the risk of it catching fire and buring down the house as well as the release of deadly fumes inside the house. The only safe way to install a power wall would be to have an outside cinder block wall built and attach the power wall to it and then run the electrical feeds through conduit.

[rebelrider.mike]

I appreciate the responses. I have found that most things I buy work fine, but then there's the occasional issue with something. I've also got a long and frustrating history with tech support. They either seem to be polite but clueless, or they assume I'm and idiot or a liar (or both). A few companies have been fantastic. But not many.

So the good news is that I probably won't get around to buying an inverter until 2024 at the earliest. This year I hope to install the sub panel and maybe even the backup generator. I've also got several other projects competing for my time this year. Who knows what new products will be out by then? But in the meantime, I hope to get my brain wrapped around all this inverter stuff so I can make a good decision as to which products to buy. It's been an interesting study so far.

[Calsun]

At this point in time getting warranty support for a failed inverter is nearly impossible. I have been trying to get a failed SunPower inverter that failed under warranty in September 2022 replaced and as of today it looks like I may get a replacement in March 2023 at the very earliest.

I bought a Solis inverter for a property two weeks ago and it shipped without the current firmware rev and so is dead on arrival. It has take two weeks just to get an update stick from Solis the may or may not fix the problem. None of their field sales engineers has a clue about how digital devices like an inverter functions and can only go off a script which is nearly always going to fail to detect the cause of a problem. The solid sales engineers failed to understand that the Solis inverter was not retaining the settings in memory and so would never work until that was resolved first. Pretty basic stuff but outside the knowledge of the Solis tech support people.

Many inverters are made by SunnyBoy and then rebranded by other companies like SunPower which makes support even more challenging. The dealers and installers will refer you to the manufacturer who is most likely located in China.

I would recommend delaying any new system installation for at least 4 months as with the current supply shortages and problems are not going to be resolved quickly and you may find yourself with a system that almost works but you will still be paying for the equipment and labor costs regardless.

[GoingElectric]

Every inverter I've looked at has at least one horror story to go with it. I don't want my inverter to come with free drama. Also, where does one actually buy them? What stores can be trusted? A lot of the brands out there don't sell directly. So suggestions are welcome.

Failures of devices are mostly often from sized wrong, installed wrong (wrong wiring, no room between parts) and bad mounting (eg: lack of cooling).
Then failure of periodic inspection and maintenance (simple as keeping it clean)

There is a very low chance it is due to manufacturing flaw.

Focus more on features you need and want, and give a good overhead (20% spare capacity? others can say).

[rebelrider.mike]

Hey all.
I've been shopping around for inverters, and they've got me a bit confused. I'm totally new to the big ones, and I'll probably get some terminology wrong. I also don't really know where to look besides whatever randomly pops up in Google searches. But maybe you guys can help me figure this out.

I should probably let you know that I'm neither rich nor acrobatic. So this will all have to be done in stages while I recover financially from each one. And I'll have to hire out the solar panel installation. The primary goal is to have some power available to critical circuits during power outages. I figure 8 circuits based on how various things are split up in the main panel currently, and 6kW of power. I've actually counted up more like 4.5kW, but a buffer between typical and maximum would be nice.

Stage 1: Add a sub panel with the critical circuits. Fed by either the main panel (US grid) or by a 6kW generator. I'll also have a transfer switch so the grid and generator never get to "see" each other. This I could do pretty easily. The main panel is surface-mounted to a cinder block wall, and has room for more panels and boxes to be installed nearby. The wiring is also easily accessible.
Generator.png

Stage 2: Add the inverter and battery. Because my primary concern is having power during outages, the next step is adding a battery, rather than solar. And to use it I'll need an inverter. The idea is that for short outages, the battery can be used to power the sub panel until grid power is restored. For longer outages, the generator would still be used to run the sub panel when the battery is depleted, and can also recharge the battery. This may be less efficient, but it would allow the generator to not be run for several hours at a time. Depending on how conservative we are with our energy usage, and the size of the battery. At this stage, the inverter wouldn't need any particularly special features other than being able to deliver up to 6kW of power from the battery to the sub panel. An internal AC to DC battery charge controller would be nice, but an external one could also be used.
InverterBattery.png

Stage 3: Add solar panels. I determined a while ago that no amount of solar will power my whole house in the winter. I got 136 inches of rain last year, and my property isn't large. But what panels I can get would certainly be enough to make an impact on my electrical bill during nice weather. First priority for the inverter would still be to power the sub panel during outages. But now I'd need to either have a solar charge controller, or an inverter with one built in. I don't plan to produce enough power to back-feed to the grid for credit or whatever. But a smaller electrical bill in the summer would be nice to offset the large bills I'll get in the winter. Plus in a longer power outage, there might be some nice days where the solar could reduce my dependence on the generator.
Solar.png

So to sum up; here are some things I'm looking for in an inverter:

-Needs to provide up to 6kW of power.
-I think because of the amount of power, it will need to be 240V split phase. (The generator and sub panel will be split phase.)
-Would be nice to be compatible with the grid/generator transfer switch. (I've heard some aren't.)
-Would be nice if it can be set to use solar and battery as primary, but include grid to cover the difference if solar and battery aren't enough. (I've heard some can do this, and some can't.)
-Internal AC to DC programmable charger for the battery would be nice.
-Internal MPPT solar controller would be nice.
-It does not need to be able to back-feed the grid.
-It does not need to function as a UPS. (I have those in place already.)

There's lots of You Tube videos out there describing and reviewing various inverters, but none of them answer all of my questions. Maybe I'm not asking the right questions. Beyond the specs, I have concerns about tech support and return policies. Every inverter I've looked at has at least one horror story to go with it. I don't want my inverter to come with free drama. Also, where does one actually buy them? What stores can be trusted? A lot of the brands out there don't sell directly. So suggestions are welcome.